District 9’s Sharlto Copley Offered Oldboy Villain Role
Spike Lee's remake of Chan-wook Park’s classic 2003 film of the same name already has Josh Brolin set for the lead role.
Sharlto Copley, last seen in The A-Team, is in early talks for the role of the tormented villain in Spike Lees remake of Oldboy. Copley becomes the latest in a long list of actors offered the part of a mysterious billionaire out to ruin the protagonists life, but whether he follows Christian Bale, Colin Firth and Clive Owen in passing on the role remains to be seen. Copley broke onto the scene with his starring turn as fussy government official Wikus van de Merwe in Neill Blomkamps sci-fi drama District 9. Lees Oldboy reinterpretation/remake/reboot is based on Chan-wook Parks 2003 film of the same name, about a man who is suddenly released after being imprisoned for 15 years, only to be given 5 days to find his captor. Lee will be working from a screenplay by Thor and I Am Legend screenwriter Mark Protosevich, who took inspiration from both Parks film and the original manga on which it was based. Whether that means the darker plot points invented for the film survive or not remain to be seen. Josh Brolin is set to star as the lead and upcoming actress Elizabeth Olsen is rumoured to have taken the role of a caseworker who attempts to help Brolin piece things together. The remake has been through a number of incarnations, and was initially set to star Will Smith, with Steven Spielberg suggested as director, and has also seen Rooney Mara and Mia Wasikowska turn down the lead female role. Copley will collaborate with Blomkamp once again in sci-fi Elysium, starring Matt Damon and Jodi Foster, due for release next year, and also has sci-fi film Europa on the horizon.